


To the Moon!

by Moontyger



Category: Derkholm Series - Diana Wynne Jones
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-01
Updated: 2014-09-01
Packaged: 2018-02-15 17:02:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2236683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moontyger/pseuds/Moontyger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elda's class has a class reunion.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To the Moon!

**Author's Note:**

  * For [betony](https://archiveofourown.org/users/betony/gifts).



Elda's tail swished in annoyance, only barely avoiding knocking over her mother's tea. “I don't understand why we're having a class reunion,” she complained. “Dad never went to anything like that!”

Mara's smile was completely unperturbed by Elda's obvious agitation. “Your father isn't particularly social, as you well know. But I thought you made quite a few friends during your time at university.”

“I did! But we don't need an official event to see each other.”

“Don't you? When was the last time you saw any of them?” 

“Well, it was... it was...” Elda hung her head, wings drooping a little and tail finally stilling as she realized her mother had a point. “I don't mean to let it go so long. I'm just busy.”

“Everyone's busy,” Mara pointed out, as ruthless with her logic as she usually was, at least when she thought one of her children was trying to weasel out of responsibility for something. “That's why special occasions are important. If it weren't for holidays, Derk and I would hardly see any of you.”

“Yes, all right.” Uttering the words made Elda realize how unused she'd become to admitting she was wrong. Strange, she hadn't realized it was something one needed to practice.

She tilted her head, looking at Mara with first one eye, then the other. “Is that why we're having it here instead of at the university?”

“Partly. But I think Policant was relieved we offered. The university has made some changes since you were their first griffin student, but they still don't have the best facilities for a reunion party like this.”

Elda wondered a little if her parents' terrace really qualified as a party location, but then again, they were used to having to make sure people of all sizes and builds could comfortably sit together. “At least the food will be better,” she said aloud. Wizard Policant had changed many things for the better, but the food had remained awful. Ruskin had kept trying, but eventually even he had given up. It seemed to be a law of the universe that university food was bad and not even magic could change it.

“Lydda has been working extra hard on it,” Mara said, which meant the food was likely to be exceptional. Of all Derk and Mara's adult children, Lydda was the one who'd never quite moved out entirely. She might have a home and a family of her own, but somehow she was over nearly every day and she still cooked most of the meals.

Even if she'd moved all the way to the other continent, however, she might have come back for this. Lydda wasn't one to miss the chance to make godlike snacks for a party, particularly one that included such important people as guests (and even less likely to miss it when said important people were also friends).

Elda had just opened her beak to ask when everyone should start arriving when the pop of displaced air from somewhere behind her announced Blade and Claudia's arrival. She knew who it was as soon as she heard it; no one else was likely to try arriving by translocation, but once she was rid of her jinx, Claudia translocated everywhere. It was, Elda thought, one of the reasons she and Blade worked so well together. Anyone else would probably have been annoyed, but Blade and Claudia were in perfect agreement on the usefulness of translocating versus more conventional means of transportation.

Elda backed away from Mara's table before turning around. Years of experience had taught her to always be aware of her surroundings, particularly when those surroundings included things she could break if she weren't careful with her movements. Once she actually saw her brother and her old classmate, however, all caution was forgotten. She rushed them and only practice let them both escape being knocked over.

“Blade! Claudia! It's been forever!”

Claudia was beaming, her hair coiling a little in excitement. “You're the one who works in the middle of nowhere,” she pointed out.

“How is it working with Querida?” Blade asked. Elda was a little surprised he was the first to ask; she'd expected that honor to go to their father.

“Oh, well, it was a little strange at first,” Elda admitted. “But she's nicer than I expected. I think she's just not used to working with someone else.” That was probably an understatement. It had taken her nearly an entire year to convince Querida that she needed help and months after to get her to consult with Elda about what needed to be done. If there hadn't been so much that still needed fixing after the days of the Pilgrim Parties – far more than any one wizard, even one as gifted as Querida, could possibly do – Elda doubted she'd have succeeded at all. 

“But what about you? How is it being your brother's advisor and court wizard?” She'd worried when she'd heard about Claudia's appointment; Titus had quelled the rebellion of the Senate, but that didn't mean he'd caught everyone who had been involved in the plot against Claudia. Even though she knew her friend was more than capable of defending herself these days, Elda couldn't help but worry that putting her in such a prominent position made her a target.

“I'm fine.” There was an edge to Claudia's smile, but considering how she'd been treated, Elda couldn't entirely blame her. “They could bully a half-blood child, but none of them dare try that on a fully-qualified wizard.”

“And how's Titus?” Mara put in, joining in the conversation even though she was completely hidden behind Elda.

“He's fine, too. Elda should really visit more often, though. People say it's good luck.”

Elda shifted a little from foot to foot. “I don't like all the bowing,” she admitted. “I'm not a symbol!”

“Speaking of symbols,” Blade said, and they all turned to watch the procession up the drive. It was a far more impressive procession than Luteria could once have afforded, but gold deposits plus Lukin and Olga's combined business sense had led to far more prosperous days for the kingdom. Unfortunately for Lukin, with prosperity came ceremony. He and Olga arrived surrounded by an honor guard, with heralds to announce them at the door. Olga bore it with quiet dignity, every inch a queen, but Elda could see Lukin's grimace even from the terrace and she wondered why he hadn't contrived to arrive in some other fashion.

Once the final guards entered the house, there was a long pause before Lukin and Olga joined everyone on the terrace. Their guards were nowhere in sight and Elda wondered what they'd done with them. Had they sent them all home?

Felim's procession was even more grand than Lukin's, though he bore it more stoically, somehow seeming to not take the slightest notice of them . He took less time getting to the terrace, too, though he also left his guards behind.

“I'm sorry,” he said to Mara, offering her a polite bow. “I tell my brother not to bother, so he adds guards to my retinue just to spite me. I hope they aren't too much trouble.”

“Not at all. Though if they get too near the kitchen, Lydda's likely to put them to work.” Which, as Elda well knew, was more a suggestion than threat. Better guards helping out than loitering around the house. They might even disturb Derk, who was locked in his laboratory, determinedly ignoring the whole idea of a class reunion.

Felim evidently realized this as well. He'd always been one of the best of them when it came to noticing the things others only hinted at. “I will see what I can do.”

Ruskin was the last to arrive and he somehow managed to do it in such a way that no one saw it. He was just suddenly present, amidst the group as though he'd always been there. Elda was particularly impressed by this. Of all her friends, Ruskin was the one she'd seen the least and consequently missed the most, so she'd been actively looking for him. Somehow he'd managed to sneak up on her anyway and, judging from his expression, he was rather proud of it.

It was wonderful to see him again. Dwarf tunnels, she'd found, were not large enough for a griffin, even a smaller one such as herself. He'd visited her once or twice, but Querida made him uncomfortable, so since she'd begun working with her, Elda hadn't seen him at all.

Looking around at all her friends, Elda realized she'd warmed to the idea of class reunions after all. Strange that she hadn't realized how much she missed them until she saw them again. And now that they were all here, they seemed to have endless amounts to talk about. Perhaps it wasn't so surprising – while individually some of them had seen each other fairly recently, it had been years since they'd all been together like this.

They talked so long that eventually everyone else had gone home or to bed, leaving the small group that had once been Wizard Corkoran's first year students alone on the terrace. It was inevitable that someone would eventually suggest they do some magic together. They hadn't done a large spell together since graduation. How could it be a real reunion without that?

Once the suggestion had been made, the idea caught on. An enthusiastic argument ensued, with everyone putting in suggestions as to what exactly they should do.

Elda thought it was a grand idea, too, but after the third suggestion that would have driven one or both of her parents batty, she knew she had to come up a suggestion none of them could resist. (It wasn't that anyone had anything against Derk or Mara, of course. It was just where they happened to be.) 

She looked around, considering. What could she suggest? Nothing to do with her current work, not here. Her father would have a fit if they messed with any of his projects and here, nearly _everything_ was one of his projects. She hadn't consciously decided on anything when she caught sight of the full moon and found herself speaking. “We never did get to the moon.”

She'd said it wistfully, out of sudden nostalgia rather than inspiration, but much to her surprise, everyone treated it as a serious suggestion. Perhaps it was because it was so late, the time of night when everything seemed both possible and exciting. No one paused to consider that none of them had really wanted to go to the moon or that their first attempt hadn't been much fun.

“It's perfect!” When he was excited like this, Lukin seemed like just a student again and not a king at all. “It's almost the first magic we worked together. This time we could get it right!”

Olga was the immediately practical one. “Does anyone remember how we did it the first time?”

It turned out no one did, or not exactly, but that only served as encouragement. Ruskin produced a notebook from somewhere and began drawing up plans, while Claudia helped him with calculations.

“Let's not forget heat this time,” Felim reminded, peering over their shoulders as the plans took shape.

“Or gravity,” Elda added. She might be able to fly, but the floating they'd experienced last time hadn't been at all like it. It had been both uncontrolled and rather dizzying: like trying to fly through a severe thunderstorm, only much worse.

By the time they were done planning, the sky was beginning to lighten and the moon was no longer visible. Ruskin sat back with a satisfied smile and presented the plans. He'd really outdone himself; they had to push several tables together to make enough room to display them all at once. The plans were much more complete than they had been for their previous trip and everyone had contributed something.

“Are the elementals ready?” Lukin asked, looking over to where Olga appeared to be talking to herself. It wasn't strictly necessary to take them, but after what had happened last time, Ruskin had insisted.

“Almost. They're still arguing about who gets to go with us.”

“We can do the same thing we did last time,” Claudia pointed out. “That way the ones who stay here can still see it.”

“I know, but some of them say that isn't the same as experiencing it themselves.”

“Nothing says we can't go more than once. They can take turns.” It wasn't an ideal solution, but Elda was beginning to feel tired enough that she wanted to get this over with.

“We're not operating a tour business for elementals!” Ruskin objected, but it was too late. Olga had already passed the proposal on and the elementals had agreed.

Claudia took one last look at the plans and nodded. “If everyone's ready, gather around and we can start.” Nothing about her had obviously changed, but everyone scurried to obey. Elda was beginning to see why she wasn't worried about the Senate any longer.

It felt strange at first to be doing magic with so many other people again. Elda was pretty sure she wasn't the only one to feel that way; instead of melding together easily like when they'd done this before, their different talents struggled to fit together. But as they kept going, they began to remember how this was done. By the time the spell was finished, it was like they'd never stopped working together at all.


End file.
